i.
Where do dawn-cold flowers open their mouths?
I need to find them, but where, where, where?
Who knows? You emerald trembler, hummingbird?
Should I ask you? Would you tell? Or should
I ask you, my flake of flame, my slice
of fragile embers, stumbling butterfly?
Could you tell me where? I think you know
where dawn-cold flowers open their quiet mouths.
So tell me. Here, in the laurel forest, in the twist
of smooth branches, where feathers glisten green
and flashing? Or higher up, on mountain fields?
I will find a patch, dew-sharp, and pluck a few,
and carry them back to town in a fold of my robe.
With them I will make the children glad.
ii.
Sounds led me to a fertile patch of gorge,
a petal-womb, where dew made little worlds
of wet and light, and there I found a swarm
of flowers, bright and strange, that thrust
their stems through crumbly soil. Something spoke:
Rise and pick, and make the children glad.
It stabs me to recollect that valley now.
iii.
There I entered many petal-wombs
where I heard, far-off, the essence of song,
where I heard the glitter-chatter of streams
and thought plausible the philosophies of birds.
I saw nectar drip from the slender tongue
of the hummingbird, and thought, There it is.
I tried to follow when it flew away,
sending my voice through tubes of disturbed air.
iv.
I snipped and gathered petals in my robe,
cradled them, a basketful of bright tongues,
thinking: I want to show my friends this place.
Here we could be happy; here the light is good;
here the eyes can ride on visible song;
here is dignity, here loll butterflies
too nectar-gorged to fly away. My heart thudded
as I left that place and hurried back to town,
but when I tried to show my eager friends
the valley of the blooms, it was not there.
v & vi.
I am the singer; I gather soft leaves to place
on smooth brows. The children look to me.
When I was there, I rubbed the flank of song.
I dreamed up melodies that could delight
Him whose voice is the hiss of quetzal feathers.
While my voice was buzzing through the air,
I entered a kingdom of light and blue-veined leaves
where children shatter fetters and unlock slaves.
vii.
Where did I lose it, that quiet valley of blooms?
Why can’t I remember? Am I unworthy
to crush fertile mosses under my heel?
Who is worthy to walk through snowing petals?
Only He who utters sunlight can say.
I sense Him. He is near. When I think of friends
searching cracked wilderness for Paradise
and finding always nothing, my heart is a carcass
glittering with flies. And all song stops.
viii.
The earth is not an honest rock. Joy lies.
Or it lies elsewhere. Here is mud. Ash.
Spit and ache. The earth hums vacantly.
But sometimes I remember that zone of bloom
where stems glowed gold and I forgot
that I was clay. Let me go to that valley
where snowing petals curved around the dart
of jade-bright birds, where I, dahlia-fisted,
got drunk on feathers, so happy I thought I was dead.
1. Ninoyolnonotza, campa nicuiz yectli, ahuiaca xochitl:—Ac nitlatlaniz? Manozo yehuatl nictlatlani in quetzal huitzitziltin, in chalchiuh huitzitzicatzin; manozo ye nictlatlani in zaquan papalotl; ca yehuantin in machiz, ommati, campa cueponi in yectli ahuiac xochitl, tla nitlahuihuiltequi in nican acxoyatzinitzcanquauhtla, manoze nitlahuihuiltequi in tlauhquecholxochiquauhtla; oncan huihuitolihui ahuach tonameyotoc in oncan mocehcemelquixtia; azo oncan niquimittaz intla onechittitique; nocuexanco nictemaz ic niquintlapaloz in tepilhuan, ic niquimellelquixtiz in teteuctin.
2. Tlacazo nican nemi, ye nicaqui in ixochicuicatzin yuhqui tepetl quinnananquilia; tlacazo itlan in meyaquetzalatl, xiuhtotoameyalli, oncan mocuica, momotla, mocuica; nananquilia in centzontlatolli; azo quinnananquilia in coyoltototl, ayacachiçahuacatimani, in nepapan tlazocuicani totome. Oncan quiyectenehua in tlalticpaque hueltetozcatemique.
3. Nic itoaya, nitlaocoltzatzia; ma namechellelti y tlazohuane, niman cactimotlalique, niman hualtato in quetzal huitzitziltin. Aquin tictemohua, cuicanitzine? Niman niquinnanquilia niquimilhuia: Campa catqui in yectli, ahuiac xochitl ic niquimellelquixtiz in
amohuampotzitzinhuan? Niman onechicacahuatzque ca nican tlatimitzittitili ticuicani azo nelli ic tiquimellelquixtiz in toquichpohuan in teteuctin.
4. Tepeitic tonacatlalpa, xochitlalpa nechcalaquiqueo oncan on ahuachtotonameyotimani, oncan niquittacaya in nepapan tlazoahuiac xochitl, tlazohuelic xochitl ahuach quequentoc, ayauhcozamalotonameyotimani, oncan nechilhuia, xixochitetequi, in catlehuatl toconnequiz, ma mellelquiza in ticuicani, tiquinmacataciz in tocnihuan in teteuctin in quellelquixtizque in tlalticpaque.
5. Auh nicnocuecuexantia in nepapan ahuiacxochitl, in huel teyolquima, in huel tetlamachti, nic itoaya manozo aca tohuanti hual calaquini, ma cenca miec in ticmamani; auh ca tel ye onimatico nitlanonotztahciz imixpan in tocnihuan nican mochipa tiqualtetequizque in tlazo nepapan ahuiac xochitl ihuan ticuiquihui in nepapan yectliyancuicatl ic tiquimellelquixtizque in tocnihuan in tlalticpactlaca in tepilhuan quauhtliya ocelotl.
6. Ca moch nicuitoya in nicuicani ic niquimicpac xochiti in tepilhuan inic niquimapan in can in mac niquinten; niman niquehuaya yectli yacuicatl ic netimalolo in tepilhuan ixpan in tloque in nahuaque, auh in atley y maceuallo.
7. Can quicuiz? Can quitlaz in huelic xochitl? Auh cuix nohuan aciz aya in xochitlalpan, in tonacatlalpan, in atley y macehuallo in nentlamati? Intla y tlacohua in tlalticpac ca çan quitemacehualtica in tloque in nahuaque, in tlalticpac; ye nican ic chocan noyollo noconilnamiquia in ompa onitlachiato y xochitlalpana nicuicani.
8. Auh nic itoaya tlacazo amo qualcan in tlalticpac ye nican, tlacazo occecni in huilohuayan, in oncan ca in netlamachtilli; tlezannen in tlalticpac? tlacazo occecni yoliliz ximoayan, ma ompa niauh, ma ompa inhuan noncuicati in nepapan tlazototome, ma ompa nicnotlamachti yectliya xochitl ahuiaca xochitl, in teyolquima, in zan tepacca, teahuiaca yhuintia, in zan tepacca, ahuiaca yhuintia.